Hump Day Hmmm 4/16/08

This weeks’ Hump Day Hmm…share your views about caring for our planet. What do you believe about ecology—preserving and conserving? How did you come to those views?

I care.

I really do. I’m just not the best about doing anything about it. I got the smaller car, I make better efforts at recycling, buy local when possible. I’m reforming.

I’ve always been aware, just not necessarily active about it. But my beliefs really came to head as I became a more active Christian. This is God’s creation, and we must take care of it. Simple as that.

The best I can do is to try my best, and pass on the spirit of stewardship to my children. For it isn’t the actions of just one person that will make the difference long term. It’s everyone. We have to be sure that our children know to be good stewards of God’s creation. Only then will we have a chance.

For that reason, I will share with you the dragon story that Thing 2 wrote for his GT project, which he is presenting today.

What, pray tell, do dragons have to do with the environment?

Well, as part of his project, he posited that the dragon stories arose out of a fear for things that were going on in the world that these people had to face. You know, wars, plagues, the general unknown. So glad we’re past all of that now, right? Anyway, he took that idea and wrote a story based in modern times. Since pollution is a worry for him, that is a focus of this story.

I’m really proud of him for this. It’s a great story, and it shows that he really cares about things around him. Enjoy!

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Dragon’s Anger

Chapter 1: The Dragon

Andrew ran and ran. He was trying to get away from the dragon. Where did the dragon come from? It had never been there before. He and his friends were playing in the cave like they always did, but they had never seen a dragon before.

Andrew tripped. The dragon snatched him up. Andrew tried to ask for help but he was too high. The dragon took him back to the cave.

The cave was both beautiful and horrible. The beautiful part was the treasure piled up in the cave. There were swords, crowns, gold bars, coins, gemstones, and more. The horrible part was the giant dragon guarding all of that.

Andrew had read lots of dragon stories, and most of those dragons could talk. Would this one? Andrew needed to figure out what was going on.

“Hey! Where did you come from?” asked Andrew. “My friends and I have been playing in here for a long time, and we’ve never seen anything like you before.”

The dragon replied, “I have been here forever. Asleep. But the pollution from your factories woke me up. I’m going to put a stop to it so I can go back to sleep”

“Why did you pick me to snatch up?”

The dragon said, “You are the best in sword play in the village, so I’ll keep you here until I’m done”

“Done with what?” asked Andrew.

“Destroying the village and factories, of course!” said the dragon. “With all the pollution gone, I can get back to sleep.”

In the dragon’s cave, a sword with the treasure caught Andrew’s eye. He made his plan. That night, Andrew ran to the pile of treasure, picked up the sword, and ran to the dragon. He slayed it in it’s sleep. Then, a glowing red orb appeared.

Andrew knew it had to be a dragon’s egg.

Chapter 2: The Bargain

Andrew picked up the egg and ran home. Now what? What was he going to do with the dragon’s egg? He decided to let it hatch and see what happened.

After three cold months, the egg finally hatched. In the first week, the dragon had lit the fireplace, overcooked the chicken, and generally caused problems. Andrew had to get rid of the dragon.

The problem was, this dragon was as upset about the polluting factories as her mom. How could Andrew insure that this dragon wouldn’t try to destroy the village and factories, too?

An idea popped into Andrew’s head. When the dragon was old enough, he would take it back to the cave. And make a bargain with it.

When the dragon was two feet long he brought it to the cave. Before it could touch the treasure, Andrew made his bargain. The dragon was not to terrorize the town and village and Andrew would stop the factory from polluting.

The dragon accepted the bargain.

Chapter 3: The Promise is Broken

Over the next few years, Andrew visited the dragon. During that time, Andrew worked hard to make the villagers clean up the pollution. But they refused. They did not believe the story of Andrew and his dragon. Who would believe that a dragon would destroy them if they did not change their ways?

One day, when Andrew went back to visit his dragon, the dragon was gone. Andrew, went home, got his sword, and ran to the village.

When he got to the village, he saw the dragon blowing jets of flame on the homes and the factory. The people of the village didn’t know what to think. Was this a real dragon, like Andrew said, or was it a fake made just to scare them?

The mayor of the village ran up to Andrew and accused him of setting the dragon on the village. Andrew said he had nothing to do with the dragon, but he would try to stop it.

“Hey”, yelled Andrew. “Stop!”

The dragon stopped, and turned to face Andrew.

“We had a deal!” shouted Andrew. “Why are you attacking my village?”

“You broke your side of the bargain,” replied the dragon. “You said that you would stop the village from polluting. But you didn’t. So now you have to pay!”

“But they wouldn’t listen to me!” yelled Andrew.

The dragon blew a jet of flame at Andrew. He deflected it with his sword and threw his sword at the dragon like a boomerang. And like a boomerang, it came back to him.

The dragon had a gouge in it’s neck. It fell. To weak to fly, it lunged at Andrew. As it lunged, it yelled out: “Die, Andrew”.

Andrew did the only thing he could. He aimed for the gouge and made it deeper.

The dragon roared in surprise. Then Andrew ran to the dragon’s side and stabbed her.

The dragon roared again, and grabbed Andrew in it’s jaws. Andrew stabbed the dragon again, right through the bottom of it’s mouth. The dragon dropped Andrew and collapsed on the ground. Andrew ran back to the dragon and stabbed it through the head.

As the dragon died, it’s last words were: “I have laid an egg. Change your ways, or else.”

Chapter 4: The End of Pollution

Over the next few years, the village cleaned up and started to reduce, reuse, and recycle. The factories turned into recycling plants and the land around the village was beautiful again.

The new dragon was helping clean the village. He liked the village because of their hard work. He also liked his visits with Andrew. Everyone knew that as long as the village stayed clean, everyone would be happy.